First Expedition to Kansas Chalk 59 



who, out of curiosity, has destroyed some splendid 

 examples of creative power. I shall mention one 

 or two as object lessons before I complete this 

 history. 



But let us put life into this fish, whose bones now 

 lie in the Carnegie Museum. 



We are back again where the two mosasaurs did 

 battle royal for our enjoyment. Watch that ripple ! 

 It is caused by a shoal of mackerel scurrying in to- 

 ward shallow water, in a mighty column five feet 

 deep. They are flying for their lives, for they have 

 seen behind them their most terrible enemy, a mon- 

 ster fish with a muzzle like a bulldog's, and huge 

 fangs three inches long projecting from its mouth. 

 Two rows of horrid teeth, one above and one below, 

 complete its armature. The great jaws, fourteen 

 inches long and four deep, move on a fulcrum, and 

 when they have dropped to seize a multitude of 

 these little fish, they close with a vise-like power. 

 The crushed and mangled remains pass down a cav- 

 ernous throat to appease a voracious appetite. 



The powerful front fins are armed with an outer 

 ray that moves on a joint in the pectoral arch, a long 

 recurved piece of solid bone, enameled on the outer 

 side and more powerful as a weapon than a cavalry- 

 man's sword. This single-edged sword is three feet 

 long, and commands the respect of its owner's ene- 

 mies, the great saurians, or Kansas mosasaurs. Our 



